Chapter 5
The group met up for dinner and immediately went across the resort complex to where karaoke was being held. Kim and Zack stopped at the sign-up area while everyone else grabbed a table.
"I'll do it if you do it," Kim told him as they looked over the list of songs. Zack shrugged as he looked through the list. She let go of the breath she was holding, secretly hoping that he would turn it down.
"Alright! Boys II Men!" Zack pointed out the group on the list. "Should I sing 'End of the Road' or 'It's So Hard to Say Goodbye'?"
"What about 'Motown Philly'?" She asked glancing over the songs for the 90's R&B group. "It's not nearly as depressing. Plus, you can bust out some of those old dance moves."
Zack made a face, "Eeh, after yesterday, I think I should lay off my killer dances moves for a bit."
Kim laughed, "That's fair. 'It's So Hard to Say Goodbye' really needs a four-part harmony."
"End of the Road it is, then," he replied jotting his name down on the list. He leaned on the table as she continued to browse song selected. "So, what's up with you and Skull?"
She glanced up at him as she turned the page, "What do you mean?"
"You two have seem to have gotten," he paused and shrugged, "cozier."
"Cozier?" She laughed as she jotted her name down.
"Yeah, cozier. He's cool now that we are outta school," He replied as they walked back to the table. "I say go for it."
Kim fought back a blush as they got near their table. She wasn't sure if Skull was just being sweet to her or if Zack and Aisha were right. He wasn't making it painfully obvious like in high school, but he did opt to spend time with her and Aisha today. There were moments where she thought he was staring or flirting with her. She pushed the thought out of her mind as the karaoke night got started.
There were about five people signed up before Zack. When his name was called, he walked up to the stage with his usual confidence and swagger. He hopped up on stage and as the drums opened the song, he grabbed the mic and started to sing, "Girl, you know we belong together; I don't have no time for you to be playing with my heart like this. You'll be mine forever, baby; you just wait, we belong together, and you know that I am right! Why do you play with my heart? Why do you play with my mind?" As the song progressed to the first chorus, the audience started to cheer. "Although we've come to the end of the road, still I can't let go! It's unnatural; you belong to me; I belong to you! Although we've come to the end of the road, still I can't let go! It's unnatural; you belong to me; I belong to you!" Although she, and everyone else at the table, was enjoying the show, she could feel the butterflies start to flutter in her stomach. She slipped away from the table to order something from the bar. Apparently, she wasn't as sneaky as she thought she was as Skull promptly joined her.
He leaned in, "You ok?"
Why does he have to smell so good? She thought as she nodded.
"Nervous?" He asked over the music.
"A little," she replied as they watched Rocky and Adam whisper to each other before Rocky sprinted up to the stage and grabbed an extra mic.
Rocky dropped his voice as low as it could go for the spoken word part (which was still too high), "Girl, I'm here for you; all those times at night, when you just hurt me and just ran out with that other fella. Baby, I knew about it. I just didn't care! You just don't understand how much I love, do you? I'm here for you." This was met with laughter and applause, making Rocky grin with delight. Skull mouthed something to the bartender as he held up two fingers. The bartender came back and poured two shots of Jack Daniels. She stared at the dark liquid as the song came to an end. Skull passed a shot to her and raised his glass, "Salut!"
Having not sung in front of an audience since high school, Kim needed some liquid courage when her name was called. She raised her shot in return and downed the shot before approaching the karaoke stage. She tapped her fingers against her thigh as the music started. "Motorcycle's in the parking lot, revving their engines and it just won't stop; matches the noise screaming in my head, Houston, I think we got a problem," she sang along to the music. By the time the chorus came around, she was feeling more at ease. "Ave Mary A, where did you go? Where did you go? How did you know to get out of a world gone mad? Help me let go of the chaos around me, the devil that hounds me, I need you to tell me, 'Child be still'." Through the next verse and chorus, her gaze shifted from solely staring at the screen to glancing at her friends at the table. They were all smiling and clapping along with the song or flashing her gestures of support. By the time the final bridge flashed on the screen, Kim felt comfortable enough to belt it. "Ave Mary A, where did you go? Where did you go? How did you know to get out of a world gone mad? Help me, help me let go of the chaos around me, the devil that hounds me, I need you to tell me, 'Child be still'. 'Child be still'. 'Child be still'."
Aisha was the first on her feet, applauding loudly. Her other friends quickly followed. Behind the table, at the bar, Skull was whistling with his fingers in his mouth. Grinning with delight, she scurred off the stage and practically floated back to her table.
"That was so fun!" She gushed as she sat back down.
Zack grinned, "You were a natural!"
"Girl, you killed it towards the end!" Aisha beamed.
Jason nodded, "Awesome job, Kim!"
"Thanks guys!" She grinned. "I gotta say that Rocky getting up on stage was pretty hilarious!"
"Thank you, thank you," Rocky stood and bowed to his friends, causing them to laugh. He took a seat as the next singer came up on stage. The woman looked younger than any of them, but considering it was an open bar, Kim was sure she was at least 21.
Adam turned to the rest of the group, "Is it just me or do the younger alumni look like they should still be in high school?"
Zack nodded in agreement, "If you compare high school kids now, to how we looked back in the day, you'd think we were in our twenties!"
The conversation lulled as a new singer hopped up the stage. Like the previous singer, she was definitely younger than Kim's group. The song started and Kim immediately recognized it as Rihanna's hit 'Unfaithful'. Though the song was very beautiful but tragic, the singer's vocal range was not a good fit for the song and the singer was too pitchy. As she hit a note that came out too sharp, Jason turned to the group, "This round is on me." He and Zack walked over to the bar and ordered a round of drinks for the group. Bringing back a round of mixed drinks for the group, Jason raised his glass in a toast.
"Since tomorrow is our last morning here, I'd like to propose a toast. It's been great being all together again and I hope that we can do it more often," he said.
"Cheers to that!" Aisha replied as every clinked glasses. As the group finished their drinks, Adam mentioned that he and Rocky needed to head back early.
"Why?" Aisha pouted.
Rocky sighed, "We gotta leave tomorrow right after the brunch so we can catch our flight."
"Boo!" Kim lamented as the two said their goodnights. "But we all understand. See you in the morning!" As more of the younger alumni went up on the stage to participate, Jason, Aisha, and Zack all bade their goodnights and made their way to their rooms. Kim and Skull were the last to leave, though it was still going strong.
"Let me walk you back to your hotel room," he said as they walked across the parking lot to their area of the resort. The night breeze was cool against her skin, giving her goosebumps.
"You don't have to," she replied as he opened the main door and waved her through. Within a few strides, he reached the second door and opened it for her.
"I know," he grinned at her, waiving her through the second door.
She glanced up at him as they walked towards their hallway, "Did you have fun tonight?"
"I did," he replied. "I really enjoyed hearing you sing."
"Thanks Skull," she smiled warmly. As they passed one of the gigantic air conditioners in the hall, Kim shivered, crossing her arms to protect herself from the artificial cold.
"Here," Skull said as he slipped his light jacket over her shoulders.
She paused to adjust the coat and glanced up at him. He was staring at her with an indecipherable look in his eyes.
"What?" She awkwardly laughed, tucking her hair behind her right ear. She raised her eyebrows as he opened his mouth, but almost immediately closed it.
He half-smiled, "It's nothing."
They continued to walk down the hall in silence. Kimberly nudged him with her shoulder as they came to her room.
"This is my stop," she said, sliding the jacket off her shoulders. Their fingers brushed as she gave the coat back. She tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach as she dug around for her key.
"It was fun tonight," Skull said, trying to fill the silence.
"It was!" She nodded as she retrieved her key. Kim paused momentarily and subconsciously chewed on her lower lip; Skull seemed to be lost in thought as she turned towards the door, fiddling with her key. She was unsure if he wanted to kiss her; it could very well be that Aisha was getting her signals crossed and Kim decided to go in before she would make a fool of herself again. Before she had a chance to get the key in the door, Skull had turned her around and moved his hands onto her waist. Leaning in, he kissed her passionately. She, in response, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with reckless abandonment; in an attempt to match her passion, he practically picked her off the ground as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Kim pulled back to catch her breath; her fingers were still entangled in his dark brown hair. She gazed into his eyes before leaning in again; they shared a few more kisses, this time much sweeter. As they ended the kiss, Skull's hands lightly resting on her hips and her hands on his shoulders.
"Woah," he whispered as his eyes searched hers.
She giggled and threw her hair back, "Really, Skullovitch? After all this time, all you have to say is 'woah'?"
He shrugged and gave her a half smile, "To be fair, babe, I would have not expected this happening ever." He paused and gave her a funny look. "Are you under some sort of supernatural influence?"
She gave him an unsure look, "No."
He softly smiled at her, "Sorry, it was a joke. Remember the time you went punk and the time you all the sudden dropped Tommy for me before the Junior Police Ball? That had to be some kind of weird spell or something."
"Well, I'm definitely not this time," she replied with a roll of her eyes and a chuckle.
She heard him mutter 'Good' before leaning in again. As she closed her eyes, she thought she heard the door to her room open, not that stopped Skull from kissing her again. Not that she minded either. He was a really good kisser. A throat was cleared behind them, which finally made them stop. Kim turned around to see Aisha standing in the doorway with a Cheshire cat grin.
"I'll take this as my queue to leave," Skull joked. "Good night, Aisha." He squeezed Kim's hand. "Good night, Kimberly." He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Good night," Kim replied, trying her best not to blush or sound as breathless as she felt. Both of which were getting very frustrating.
"Good night, Skull!" Aisha waved as he walked down the hallway. She grabbed Kim's hand and dragged her into the room as she demanded that Kim tell her everything.
Author Notes:
Thanks for reading! Finally, am I right? So the kiss was based off of the first Jess/Nick kiss in New Girl because whew, that was a hawt kiss. The song by Pink is 'Ave Mary A' off her Funhouse album, which is technically two year before this is set, but that's assuming they graduated in 1996. Boyz II Men's 'End of the Road' is off their Cooleyhigharmony album, which fits the timeline. If you like 'End of the Road', go to YouTube and watch 'A Magical Night in Philly' where a bunch of people break out into 'End of the Road' after bar-close at Jim's Steaks. It truly is magical. I clearly don't own anything. Want a sequel? Leave a review!